The present invention relates in general to skylights, and pertains, more particularly, to an operator used in opening and closing a skylight. There is described herein, a number of different embodiments for carrying out the principles of the present invention.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved operator construction for use in conjunction with a skylight or the like. In accordance with one aspect of the invention the operator comprises a housing, means securing the housing to the skylight and drive gear means in the housing for driving, for example, a chain or the like which is used for causing an opening and closing of the skylight. The operator also has a manual handle means and means coupling the manual handle means to the drive gear means to enable manual opening and closing. In one embodiment described herein, there is also provided electric motor means and means coupling the electric motor means to the drive gear means. The drive gear means may include a plurality of sequentially operated gears, one of which has the manual handle means coupled thereto and another one of which has the electric motor means coupled thereto. In this way, operation can be carried out either manually or electrically. More particularly, the drive gear means may comprise in one embodiment, a plurality of gears including a first gear operated from the electric motor means, a second gear driven from the first gear, a third gear driven from the second gear and from the handle means, and a fourth gear driven from the third gear. The manual handle means may comprise, in addition to a handle, an associated worm gear arrangement for coupling to the drive gear means. There is also preferably provided in the embodiments described herein, limit switch means responsive to drive gear position for controlling operation and stopping of the electric motor means at the proper positions for opening and closing the skylight.